


'cause all you wanna do

by the_aaliyah_rose_black



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bad Parent Ted Wheeler, Bisexual Eleven | Jane Hopper, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper is a Good Friend, Gay Will Byers, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Karen Wheeler Tries, Lesbian Maxine "Max" Mayfield, M/M, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Needs a Hug, Nancy Wheeler Tries, Past Rape/Non-con, Rape Recovery, References to Depression, References to anxiety, Sad Mike Wheeler, Sad with a Happy Ending, Soft Will Byers, Underage Rape/Non-con, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:13:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27964355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_aaliyah_rose_black/pseuds/the_aaliyah_rose_black
Summary: in which mike wheeler was raped as a child and will byers, his best friend, is by his side through his recovery.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	'cause all you wanna do

**Author's Note:**

> ( trigger warning; mentions of rape and sexual assault, but it's not graphic, smoking )
> 
> national sexual assault hotline: 1-800-656-4673
> 
> if you have experienced this/are in a situation like this and need help, PLEASE call or text the number above!
> 
> title is from the song "all you wanna do" from six the musical.

Mike remembers everything so clearly. He was twelve, and it was the summer before seventh grade. It was late at night, around 10:50, and he was lying in his bed when his bedroom door opened and heavy footsteps patted on his floor. He laid still as a statue, and someone sat extremely close to him on the bed. He could smell the alcohol on the person's breath, and he remembered the extremely confused and hurt feelings he felt as the person touched him in places he never wanted to be touched. He tried to cry out, for his mom, his dad, Nancy, but the man just slammed his huge palm over his mouth, whispering that he would kill him if he so much spoke. Mike then laid there in fear, his whole body aching and feeling fat tears roll down his cheeks and onto his pillow, whimpers escaping his lips. 

It happened several times after that. 

The man was an old college friend of his mom's. He was visiting in town to see his parents, and he was staying with them for a week. He would sneak into his room around the same time every night, and do the same thing. Ever since then, if Mike heard so much a creak in the hallway at near or after 10:50, it would send him into a panic. 

It was Will who noticed that something was wrong. His best friend noticed how Mike would flinch at loud and unexpected noises, his eyes widening with fear and panic if someone touched him on the shoulder to get his attention, most specifically if it was his mom or Jonathan. So, one day when he had come over to the Byers house one afternoon, Will pulled him into his bedroom.

"Okay, something's wrong," he started. 

"Nothing's wrong, Will," Mike replied, fiddling with his fingers, a habit that he had whenever he got nervous. 

"No, something is," Will argued back. "You've been acting weird for a whole week, Mike. You flinch at every loud noise, and I always hear you whimpering in your sleep at sleepovers, so, please, Mikey, tell me what's wrong!" 

After he finished his rant, he looked at his best friend; whose's face was pale, and his eyes were wide. Then, in the blink of an eye, he started crying. No, not small sniffles, but _sobbing._ Loud, ugly sobbing, and he fell to the floor at the force of it. Worry filled him to the core, and he gently knelt beside his best friend. 

"Mike, Mike, what's happened?" Will asked gently. Mike looked up, with bloodshot eyes and tear tracks on his face. 

"I'm sorry, Willie, I'm so sorry," he sobbed quietly, before swallowing thickly and rubbing his eyes, "my mom's friend was over last week, and he was sta-staying with us, and every night, he would come in and he-" he let out another sob.

"He what, Mikey?" Will found himself asking, even though he slightly already knew the answer. 

Mike looked back up, his expression miserable and full of genuine despair, "he-he touched me, Will. And it hurt. It hurt so bad." He broke down in another fit of sobs and without thinking, Will wrapped his best friend in a hug. And to his surprise, Mike didn't flinch back, he hugged back desperately, sobbing into Will's shirt. He rubbed his back gently and ran a hand through his hair, just like his mom did whenever he was upset. 

"It's not your fault, Mike, that man is a complete asshole," he whispered as he gently rocked his best friend back and forth, his sobs gradually decreasing along with his shaking. Mike snorted slightly. "What?"

"I've never heard you swear," he whispered back. 

"I guess Dustin's rubbing off on me," Will joked and Mike laughed slightly, pulling back to rub his eyes. 

A few weeks later, when Mike felt like he couldn't take it anymore. He told his parents and Nancy what had happened, begging them to the point of crying for them to believe him. His dad rolled his eyes and kicked him in the ribs, telling him to stop lying and to stop crying. His mom looked like she wanted to believe him, but she sided with his dad anyway, like she always did. Mike then looked at his older sister, tears running like a river down his face, eyes begging, and pleading. She looked conflicted, biting her lip and looking down at the floor before walking out of the living room and upstairs, slamming her bedroom door shut. He cried himself to sleep that night, waking up several times because of nightmares. 

Then in November Will went missing, and he, along with Lucas and Dustin met a girl in the woods with a shaved head and superpowers. He thinks he likes her, but then he remembers Will, and how warm and light he makes him feel. They uncover the mystery, and Joyce and Hopper go into the Upside Down to save Will, and bring in home. But Eleven vanishes. 

He becomes cold and lashes out more often, especially at his parents, and sometimes his friends. There are some days where he feels empty and numb, a heavy weight of sorrow sitting heavily on his chest. Some days he feels like his heart is beating out of his chest, his leg won't stop bouncing, his stomach is churning with nerves, and he's constantly on edge. A lot of nights he wakes up in a cold sweat, breathless from nightmares: some of them about the Demogorgon killing Lucas and Dustin, Will actually being dead, but most of them revolving around the incident that happened the previous summer. 

It all got worse after the Snowball. 

After the events with the Mind Flayer, Will and Mike had gotten closer. He did have a slight crush on Eleven at first, but she was more like a sister to him. She had understood, and if there was something that Eleven was, it was that she understood emotions, despite being brought up in a lab. And that summer, he and Will had finally admitted their feelings for each other, and had started dating

But not before someone came back, _Before he came back._

He had done the same thing he had done before, the unwanted touches, the sneaking into his room, and Mike had enough after a week. _When will enough be enough?_

He had enough strength to push him away, and it was raining hard enough outside so that his parents, Nancy, or Holly would hear him. The man was too drunk to chase after him, but Mike didn't waste any chances. He ran outside into the cold March air, the rain quickly drenching him. His curls stuck to his forehead, and the rain droplets blended on his pale skin with the tears that were currently running down his face. His bare feet throbbed as he made his way to Will's house, but he didn't care. He shivered in the pouring rain, and the bruises on his throat burned as he knocked on the door.

He stood standing there for a few minutes, before the door opened and Will stood there, his eyes wide with concern, which only heigthend when he saw Mike standing there, shivering and crying on his doorstep. 

"Mike, what happened?" Will asked, pulling him inside the house and closing the door. 

He just sniffled. "I'm sorry. I'll go," he said, making his way back toward the door, his throat burning.

Will grabbed onto his wrist, making him flinch widely. Will let go almost instanly, realization settling in.

"Did something happen?" he asked softly. 

"I don't want to talk about it," Mike whispered, shame running through his mind.

Will nodded in understanding. "Okay. Come on, let's get you some dry clothes. You're going to freeze to death or catch pneumonia." 

Mike rolled his eyes slightly, "I'm not gonna catch pneumonia." 

The next few years were rough. He watched as his mom started to drink more, and his parents fighting got more and more out of hand. Nancy moved away for college with Jonathan, and left him alone. He didn't resent her, he would gladly do the same thing. Eleven and Max started dating in their sophomore year of high school, and now in their junior, everyone in their friend group could see how madly in love the two were. And Mike wasn't jealous, he was happy for Eleven, after all she had gone through, she deserves happiness. And he had Will.

God, Will, the only person keeping him hanging on. Especially after what happened in their freshman year.

It had been two years since he was last assualted. He had been cleaning out his gym locker before Christmas break, and was the last one because his asshole of a gym teacher forced his group to run more laps than anyone else, when a senior football player came over and started touching him. He remembered how he ran his hands through his curls as he forced him to his knees and touched him in places he hadn't been touched since he was twelve. He took a ridiculously hot shower, scrubbing at his skin raw under the boiling hot water for almost an hour, trying to breathe through the staggering sobs. He hadn't told Will what completely happened, he couldn't stand the memory. 

_All you wanna do baby is squeeze me, don't care if you don't please me, bite my lip and pull my hair_

Mike remembered turning to smoking as a coping mechanism, and putting the cigarettes out on his arms, burning his skin. It was the only way he actually felt something other than complete numbness whenever he wasn't with Will. He tried to break it, but sometimes everything was just too much and he needed a smoke.

It was their junior year, and because Lucas had joined the basketball team (which he was very good at), they all got invited to a party at one of the jock's house. He was their desginated driver, and had only had one drink, when some jock who had obviously had a couple of drinks walked over to him and started flirting. He tried to back away, only for him to corner him in the wall and the guy placed his hand on his hip, the other one gripping his arm.

Mike felt like he could be sick. All his previous trauma was all coming back to him, and he could hear Abba's Dancing Queen playing in the background. He briefly saw a flash of red hair that he knew to be Max, but neither of his friends were anywhere near him. _But it's never, ever different, 'cause all you wanna do, all you wanna do, baby, is touch me, when will enough be enough?_

His fight-or-flight insticts kicked in so he shoved the guy and ran into the bathroom down the hall, slamming the door behind him and collasping to his knees, throwing up into the toilet, sobbing violently, the song ringing through his head in slow motion. Whether that me from all the traumatic experiences rushing through his head or his anxiety, he didn't know. In the midst of his misery, he didn't hear the door opening and someone kneeling behind him, rubbing his back and holding his hair back. And Mike instantly knew it was Will. 

When he was done throwing up, still crying and shaking, he leaned his back against the wall and heard the sound of the toilet flushing. He then felt hands gently on his face, cupping his cheek and stroking the tears away with a soft touch. So unlike what had happened a minute or two ago. He blinked away his tears and saw that Will looking at him, his beautiful brown eyes pleading for him to tell him what was wrong, like so many times before. 

"You need to breathe, baby," Will cooed, his voice soft. His heart broke at the sight of his boyfriend, his face wet and puffy, tear tracks drying on his face, his face expression terrified and haunted. 

"I want to go home," he hiccuped and half-whined.

Will's hand moved from his cheek to his hair, gently running his fingers through his curls. "I know you do. Are you sure you can make it without getting sick again, bubba?" Mike nodded. 

And, so, a half hour later, they were both in Joyce Byer's car, the windows open and Mike curled up in the passanger seat, the cool breeze brushing against his face, one of his hands interwined with Will's. He had grabbed onto his boyfriend's hand the moment they were in the car, and Will had allowed him to clutch onto his fingers without hestitation. They got to the Byer's house within ten minutes, and Will helped him into the house, lying him down on the bed. 

"Do you want into change get in the bath? Or do you want to just sleep? I have some pajamas that you left here last week," Will quietly asked. 

"Bath," Mike answered sleepily and Will nodded, and with a soft smile, he pressed a kiss to his forehead. He turned on the water, and when it was just right, Mike got in the soapy warm water, not closing his eyes until his boyfriend started washing his hair with a flowery shampoo and conditioner. 

And a couple of hours, both boys were curled up, a trash can beside the bed if Mike needed to throw up (which he did, from a nightmare) but it seemed to go away when Will got up in bed next to him, stroking his pale cheek and letting Mike curl up against him. 

Joyce arrived home from working a late shift to find both boys asleep in bed. She smiled softly and was about to leave when she noticed the tear tracks on Mike's face and how he was whimpering and shifting in his sleep. Frowning, she walked over and from experience, she placed her hand softly on the boy's thin shoulder, gently shaking him awake. 

His eyes flew open, wide with panic, and she held her hands up in a surrender motion. "It's just me, it's Joyce, I was just checking in on you two," she assured, "go back to sleep. You look like you need it." 

Will's eyes opened and he turned toward his boyfriend, rubbing a palm up and down his back. "Hey, easy, sweetie, you're safe. I'm right here, and I'm not gonna go anywhere." Joyce felt a smile form on her face as she watched her son comfort Mike, who nodded tiredly and seemed to fall right back asleep against his chest. Will looked up at her and mouthed, _we'll tell you later._

Mike remembered how he told Joyce everything, with Will right beside him, a gentle palm on his back. The woman who had become a motherly figure to him encouraged him to get therapy and to go a local clinic, just to make sure he didn't have anything (which he didn't). 

It took him a while to get convinced to get therapy. He talked to Steve, who had been taking classes at the local community college, and confessed everything to him (and he ended up crying). The older boy gave him a long hug and told him that therapy would be the best option, and not to hold everything inside. After about a week of being in therapy, Mike confessed to his friends, told them everything, and instead of being shunned, they all gave him huge hugs. Max, surprisingly, was the first person to hug him, Eleven quickly following her. 

He had also gotten over his smoking addiction, and anytime he felt like smoking, it was a phone call with Dustin or Lucas, watching a movie or going to the video store with Will, going on walks with Max and El with Will. 

He soon learned people were different and with a kiss in the rain while hanging out at Will's that Will was all he really needed. 


End file.
